Foren

I've seen a few posts about the HPWC connector, but since I'll be getting the smaller battery I won't need it. Does anyone have a guess how much it would cost to wire up a 220 connection in my garage?

jerry3 | 23. September 2012

That's literally a "How long is a piece of wire" question, but to take a stab at it.

The actual NEMA 14-50 receptacle is maybe $15. The electrician is going to be between $100 and $300 depending upon the amount of work they have to do. The rest is wire and conduit. I'd budget for $500 if the plug will be very close to the electrical panel and $1000 if not.

The only other "gotcha" is if your current electrical system needs expanding for the 50 amp breaker. If you need to replace the panel that can be from $500 to $2000.

Ohms.Law | 23. September 2012

SolarCity has quoted me $450 for a very short run from the control panel to the 14-50 outlet in the garage.

Ohms.Law | 23. September 2012

+jerry3. What he says.

kjwcanary | 23. September 2012

Just did mine (P#2159), and it cost about $600. The electrician needed to run a wire through the garage and drill a hole to put the 14-50 outlet outside. He was here about 3 hours.

Hope this helps.

Mark2131@CA-US | 23. September 2012

Just had one installed last week. Extremely easy , short cable run (30 feet).
$400 bucks cash.

murraypetera | 23. September 2012

I just got a quote from Solar City and local company.

Solar City $750 for 50A $900 for 100A service
Local company $750 for 100A service with 50A plug for now.

Actual material for me was < $50, but my outlet is literally right below my panel. About an hour's work for the electrician - not sure what the rate is since in this case it's my brother & he's doing it for the promise of a couple rides in the Model S.

marek.koenig | 23. September 2012

Thanks all, my outlet would be 2 feet below my breaker box, so I don't expect it to be too much.

Schlermie | 23. September 2012

Does anyone have the cost to add a meter to the 220v line used to charge the car?

stevenmaifert | 23. September 2012

A local electrician installed my NEMA 14-50 circuit 8/31 for $285. I thought that was very reasonable. Nothing fancy... it was a short cable run from my main 200 Amp power panel to a stud mounted receptacle in the garage. No permitting required. The workman told me they have also done wall mounted HPCs. If you live in the San Diego area and are interested in a referral, drop me an email: stevenmaifert@att.net

nickjhowe | 23. September 2012

I just did mine this afternoon. I ran 40ft of wire and conduit, plus breaker and NEMA 14-50 outlet. Total of less than $200 and about 4 hours work. Fortunately I had space in my panel, and enough feed to the house.Here's the parts list:

#6 wire is $1/ft at Lowes/Home Depot. You'll need four wires - red/black/white and green. If you keep it simple and use #6 for everything it is therefore $4/ft.

PVC conduit is $2/10ft.

NEMA 14-50R outlet plus box: $10

50A breaker: $10

Conduit clips plus screws: $10

The most expensive part is the wire. I don't think you actually need #6 for the neutral and earth, but I played it safe.

nickjhowe | 23. September 2012

BTW - I did a long run so that I could mount the outlet at the side of the garage door. I figured with the 20ft TM charging cable I'd be able to reach the charge port regardless with the car was nose in, reversed in or outside the garage. If I'd mounted the outlet near the breaker I wouldn't be able to charge it outside.

jbunn | 24. September 2012

Nick, You do need #6 for the neutral, but the green wire can step one size down to #8. Depending on code, if it's all metal conduit, you may not even need the ground wire since it's grounded throught the conduit. I used 3 #6 and 1 #8, running through 1 inch PVC, and just did mine this week as well. 20 foot run which puts the outlet right by the garage door on the drivers side. That should let me charge eiether in the garage, or outside the garage. I went out and bought one of those 3 dollar garden hose hangers and mounted it chest high right above the NEMA plug. Since the charging cord will only need to extend about 5 feet to the car when it's in the garage, I need a way to keep the cable off the floor and looking tidy. It's my "poor man's" HPC.

I'm just short one thing. A car to plug it into.

FYI - also thinking about getting an extra cord. I'd like to have one plugged into the garage and not have to bend down to plug and unplug the NEMA end. The extra cord can go in the frunk or runk, for charging on the road.

nickjhowe | 24. September 2012

@jbunn - exactly what I did. I used 3/4" PVC conduit, mounted the outlet near the floor and will put a hanger on the wall. I was going to mount the outlet about 5ft off the floor out of the way, then realized I would lose 5ft of the 20ft cable length just getting to the floor! Duh!

Michael S | 24. September 2012

Cost me $100 parts included by a licensed electrician (NEMA 14-50)

weeandthewads | 24. September 2012

Wow seems like everyone has surplus AMPS available. I have a couple of 110v 15AMP outlets in the garage but I want two 220v 100amp outlets in the garage. (61 miles of charging per hour)This requires 200 amps surplus on my existing feed, which is a 200 amp feed for the entire house. So I am installing a second "time of use billing" meter dedicated to the car. I will charge the car at off timess and drop the cost significantly. I am at $5k, to bring the service in from the street, install the second meter, install the second breaker box, install the outlets, install the Tesla Charger and repair the exterior where the second meter will sit. I do get a $2k rebate from the DWP towards the cost.

jbunn | 24. September 2012

Realisticly, how many times are you going to need to charge that fast?

dpann | 24. September 2012

I'm having the outlet installed in an outside spot with a weatherproof outlet box and 130 feet run from the panel. The electrician needs to run the wire under the house, into the garage and then around to the opposite side of the garage. Cost around $1500.

Theresa | 24. September 2012

rtesta, $5k to save on time of day charging? I doubt you will live long enough for that to pay back. You will only save the difference between normal charge rates and time of day rates. Even at $0.20 differential that will take a lot of charging to recover $5k.

Schlermie | 24. September 2012

I know someone who had a dedicated meter installed and about 50 feet of conduit inside the garage to his charging station (for a Volt) for $1500. I think rtesta's $5k is a result of all the other work being done.

weeandthewads | 24. September 2012

My net cost on the second meter is $3k. The DWP provides a $2K rebate for the second meter install. It includes a second circuit breaker panel and wiring for two cars in the garage. This isn't about ROI as much as it is making sure the electric decision can't come back to bite me. I drive to Santa Barbara almost every week (180 miles round trip). I want to make sure if anything happens I always have a fully charged car. I can fully recharge in three hours, using a 15amp circuit that would take me 10 hours if I get all 15 amps?

I am meeting with a Solar City rep at my house tonight to go over installation of a 14-50 NEMA outlet outside my garage. The estimate for installation, including a 50' run from my electric box to the installation location, is $900. I admire @nickjhowe and others who are doing it themselves, but I lack the time, skill and confidence to pull it off!

nickjhowe | 26. September 2012

@NJS1207 - I thought long and hard before doing it; If I hadn't had plenty of empty space on the panel I wouldn't have attempted it. Now you know what the retail parts cost is (<$200 for the wire, $50 for all other parts) and that it should only take 3 hours (the longest part was putting up the conduit single handed) you can judge whether $900 is reasonable, or whether to get someone else to quote.

Adam | 26. September 2012

I paid about $350 to get mine installed. It's right under the panel and now I wish it was higher up, I'm worried about hitting it with the car door since it's not recessed into the wall..

I also have the Roadster HPC and I was surprised that when using the HPC adapter I could only get 40 amps, the same as the NEMA 14-50. I would have thought the HPC would charge the Model S faster than the 220 outlet.

Teoatawki | 27. September 2012

This is the first time I've heard that using the HPC adapter only gets 40A. That seems more like a bug (or design flaw) to me.

nickjhowe | 27. September 2012

It can't be 40A. To charge at 62miles per hour you need 20kW. At 240V you need 83A to product 20kW. Factor in inverter losses and you are getting up towards 100A.

jbunn | 27. September 2012

Teo,

Nah the NEMA 14-50 is a 50 amp plug, but the single charger in the car pulls 40 amps. So in regard to Adam's post, eiether the Roadster HPC only puts out 40 amps by design, or the S in question has a single charger. Really, no point in purchasing a sepearate adapter for the roadster HPC. Cheaper to just add a Nema 14-50 plug off right below the roadster HPC on the same circut and use one or the other (but not both at the same time). Save a lot more money than the adapter.

David70 | 27. September 2012

NEMA 14-50 gets 40A. The HPC for the Roadster gets 70A, maybe higher with the ones for the Model S. There are at least 20 70A chargers along the West Coast for Roadsters. This is on the Tesla Highway google map.